DREDGE is a neat, little indie fishing game set in a Lovecraftian horror universe. As the new fisherman in a mysterious coastal village, you're tasked with providing food for Greater Marrow, while unraveling the mystery of the unsettling fog, which plagues the region.


Most of the time in DREDGE is spent sailing your little ship, fishing and dredging (duh). The latter two are actually small mini games that boil down to pressing the right button at the right time - nothing too challenging. That's about 90% of the gameplay. Fortunately, the game isn't too long and the exploration especially is quite fun. Otherwise, it might start to feel repetitive. The remaining 10% of the time is spent talking to the NPCs and managing your ship.

One of the more clever mechanics is that time only progresses when you’re moving or fishing, but the environment doesn’t pause. This means if enemies spot you, trying to outrun them will waste your time, possibly pushing you into nightfall when things get dangerous.

At night, the fog rolls in. And with it come all kinds of threats. Your sanity drains over time, and hallucinations begin to creep in. However, different kinds of fish come out, so you need to be able to catch them before your situation gets too dire.

All in all, DREDGE is not a complicated game, but it's satisfying.


I think a huge reason behind DREDGE's success is the graphics and the music, which are both excellent.

The soundtrack is about an hour long, which is pretty impressive for a 10 hour long game. It gives off Victorian era, melancholic vibes and perfectly suits the mood. It makes sailing the empty ocean a deeply relaxing experience.

I'm usually not a fan of the low poly graphics, but the one in DREDGE is just really neat. The world is thoughtfully designed with lots of various assets and hidden details everywhere. I also loved the different mutated fish, so called aberrations. They are proper eldritch horror looking and I bet the artists had a lot of fun creating them.


The story of DREDGE is of a world plagued by an ominous fog, which corrupts the local fauna as well as residents' minds. Progressing through it is done in two ways. First, by talking to the NPCs scattered around the islands and second, by completing their quests. Admittedly, the quests are usually not that interesting. Most of them are simple fetch quests, be it materials or fish. The side quests are most of the time quite bland, but a couple of them do come with additional lore. Generally, the ones that are crucial for progressing through the game are more fleshed out, while the rest can be a bit meh.

Another important source of information are secret notes and visions that can be found all over the world. They provide important insights to understand the story fully.

All in all, the story is okay. It’s intentionally vague in places and while I can understand the decision, DREDGE's world really piqued my interest and I wouldn't mind reading and knowing more about it.


DREDGE is not the best game ever, but it doesn’t need to be. At its core it's a pretty simple indie title, but it pulls together several strong elements. It looks great, sounds amazing and is just long enough to still be fun when you finish it. If you dig Lovecraft's stories or just want solid 10 hours of relaxing fun with a creepy twist, DREDGE is worth checking out.